As part of an ongoing strategic expansion Cobra Biologics has appointed Dr Darrell Sleep as Director of Innovation. The new innovation team has been formed from existing in-house R&D and process development units.
Sleep will work closely with Professor Daniel Smith, the Group’s Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) to lead the new division. The combined team will deliver contract development activities, in addition to driving scientific and technical innovation for new and existing service offerings.
30 years of biopharmaceutical experience, leading innovation and product development give Sleep much experience for his new role. 20 of those years were in management positions in all stages of product development, from building a new technology platform delivering pre-clinical in vivo proof-of-concept data sets to developing improved production systems for a product that successfully entered cGMP manufacture.
Sleep also is co-inventor of a technology platform designed to improve the circulatory half-life of biotherapeutic drugs, leading to the development of approved biologics, and generating royalties over $30 million by the end of 2017.
Commenting on the appointment Sleep said: “As part of the innovation group, I will be focusing on current and new processes, technologies and equipment, with the aim to further improve time and yields for customers, and to ultimately support them in making advanced therapies more accessible to patients.”